Panty Payment Options For the UK
Payment Options for UK Panty Sellers and Panty Buyers Sept 2006
Contributed by Anna of Lady Anna’s Panties
The following information is only applicable to the UK. Payment options have been a hot topic on the forum for a long time judging by the amount of threads and posts. The following is based on my experience as a UK seller. I believe this information is valuable to both sellers and to buyers, new and experienced.
Payment processors
There used to be a number of payment processors such as PayPal, PPPay and NoChex who were happy to support ‘adult’ sites. The banks who backed these payment processors decided to stop supporting us and consequently part of the TOS (terms of service) with these processors is that any account with them must not be used for sites such as ours.
The consequences of continuing to use these sites are that at best you have your account closed and you have to look for alternative payment methods. At worst you lose all the money you have in that account in lieu of ‘fines’ for breaking the TOS. You also risk losing sales because your site looks ‘out of date’ with all those NoChex buttons on the payments page.
It also appears that these payment processors actively look for sites who advertise their use so that they can close your account down. You may be successful for a while but you will be caught eventually – why risk losing your hard earned cash?
There is a new option. It’s called Forepay, recently set up by the eBare auction site. It is currently available within the UK only pending further overseas interest.
Credit cards
Credit cards are not really a viable and affordable option for an amateur panty site, plus they make you look too ‘commercial’. It’s costly. You need to set up a merchant account, and you then pay fees for the use of the service and a percentage on every transaction.
You also risk your buyer (or his wife) cancelling your payment, known as a chargeback, one of the very reasons why banks won’t support adult sites.
‘Gosh sweetheart, I don’t know WHAT that payment is supposed to be for, get it cancelled quickly!’ (……phew, got away with it this time).
Wishlists and Online gift certificates
This is probably the only way non-UK buyers can pay for your items.
Wishlists:
Buyers can choose something from your Wishlist, pay for it and Amazon will send it on to you. Your home address is kept secure between yourself and Amazon, (are you listening Royal Mail?). Depending on your address though your home town will show at the top of your Wishlist.
Words of warning though, try not to have anything on your list that is out of stock with a waiting time. Unscrupulous buyers will order it for you, you receive the order confirmation (ask that the buyer forwards it to you), you then send out the panties in good faith, then the buyer waits until they’ve received their panties and then they cancel the Wishlist order! Your buyer must respect the fact that his panty order will not be sent out until the Amazon order has arrived.
Gift Certificates:
Make sure that your buyer sends you a gift certificate from Amazon.co.uk. Amazon.com certificates can only be spent on Amazon.com (U.S.A.) and you’ll pay customs charges and handling fees on any goods coming from the US.
Other online gift certificates are available to purchase such as a Boots giftcard or Arcadia vouchers (Top Shop, Dorothy Perkins, Miss Selfridge etc). More and more online options are becoming available. Keep an eye out and let the rest of us know too.
PO Boxes
Before we look at the other payment options, let’s look at the PO Box. The PO Box, used by anybody who wants to keep their identity a secret; private investigators, secret agents, panty girls…
Great, you think, I can get a PO Box for cheques, concealed cash and postal orders. You can, but beware, as well as costing nearly £60 to rent a box for 12 months your home address is not such the secret you might have thought it would be. The Royal Mail reserves the right, within their TOS, to disclose your full postal address to enquirers. The enquirer does not need a valid reason, it can be anybody! I called them to query this; the Royal Mail said this wasn’t an infringement of our privacy because they didn’t disclose our name as well. Good of them eh?
The alternative is that you may have a trusted friend who is happy for you to use their address as a safe secure alternative. If so, make sure your buyers understand that this is an alternative. It saves confusion when they expect you to have received your cheque by now and your friend has disappeared on holiday!
Postal orders
These are as good as cash providing you have a safe address for the buyers to send them too.
An uncrossed postal order can be cashed immediately at the post office.
A crossed postal order however, can only be banked into the payee’s (your) bank account.
Personal cheques
If you don’t have a safe alternative address you can ask your buyers to bank these cheques for you on your behalf.
To do this all they need is your surname, sort code and your account number (all these numbers are available on your cheques and you will not be jeopardising your account security by giving this information out) and the address of your bank’s head office. The buyer posts his cheque to your bank including your details (surname, sort code and account number) and the bank deals with the cheque.
It’s that easy.
Concealed cash
Still a favourite with buyers who have joint bank accounts with their significant other. This is fine providing they understand that it’s at their risk and that you of course have an alternative postal address. Notes though, I wouldn’t think coins would be safe!
I’ve received concealed cash with no problems at all – so far.
Online/Telephone banking (BACS)
This is the best way for your buyer to send payment I think. It’s risk free for both buyer and seller. It’s quick and it’s convenient.
There is no fee to pay for either party. It’s a free banking service. Do not confuse this with a Bank Transfer (see below).
The seller gives her sort code and account number to the buyer.
The buyer can set up the payment through online banking, telephone banking or over the counter. All he needs is the sort code, account number and payment amount. The buyer can choose what reference appears on the seller’s statement, and he can also choose what reference appears on his statement.
This is 100% secure, convenient and discreet for both parties. All the seller sees on her statement is his reference (preferably his name!), the amount and the date paid. The buyer’s account details do not show.
The payment takes 3 working days to clear which is much quicker than a cheque, which takes 5 working days.
Bank Transfer (Swift/IBAN)
The purpose of a Bank Transfer is primarily to transfer money from one bank account to another bank account of a different currency. The charge can cost £20-£30 which also includes the cost of converting the currency.
I can’t see many buyers wanting to pay up to £30 extra in order to purchase panties from the UK, but hey, you never know.
I think I’ve discussed all th
e available payment options to the UK sellers; there may be others that crop up in the near future. Some payment methods will suit some more than others. It’s a matter of knowing what is available to you and deciding which method suits your needs and requirements.
All the information given is correct to the best of my knowledge at the time of writing. September 2006
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